


The T-Shirt Vendor Only Wears Crop-Tops

by Ludella



Category: Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator
Genre: Fluff, Lucien pines like a bitch, M/M, Pining, i dont remember canon ages but theyre like the same age in this fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-27
Updated: 2017-07-29
Packaged: 2018-12-07 17:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11628405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ludella/pseuds/Ludella
Summary: Lucien goes to his first mosh pit and gets helped out by an incredibly hot T-shirt vendor.He's a little bit head over heels immediately. [Lucien pining after Pablo]





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> i don't remember if they stated canon ages for any of the kids besides like. daisy, carmensita, ernest, and amanda. i think lucien is in the clear for me to say he's 17/18 and pablo's still a teen

The venue is so packed, it’s nearly impossible to navigate altogether. Lucien has to squeeze this thankfully lithe body between other teens writhing in metal-induced ecstasy. He cringes when a scene girl’s hand accidentally brushes against his arm and redoubles his efforts to _leave_.

It’s his first real concert for a big time band, and in all actuality, he’d only come because Ernest invited him. The kid wanted to see the band, so he took him to see the band. Simple, but now he regrets it. Lucien can appreciate the music--he loves it, actually, but literally everything else is horrible. It’d be so much easier and peaceful and nicer to just listen to the very same music in his room, honestly.

He yelps when a particularly sharp elbow knocks him in the side. “Hey, watch i--” His voice is drowned out by the hundreds of others screaming as well as the band on stage. Ernest had crawled his way to the front and left him alone, and now he was afraid he might not even make it out alive. Lucien panics when he feels the people he’s trying to squeeze through push back, belittling his progress out of the venue. “Hold on, wait--!”

“Woah, easy there, little man!”

A dark hand grabs his arm, and Lucien’s first instinct is to yank it away. He stops as soon as he sees who it is.

He’s never seen the man before in his life, but Lucien is immediately struck. He stands over the younger teen by at least a head with long, wavy green hair falling over his shoulders. He smiles easily and gently in a way that’s both comforting and _really fucking hot_. 

“Trynna get out of this madness, dude?” the man asks, leaning down so they could hear each other.

Lucien nods. “Uh, yeah, I lost my friend.” His friend is at the front of the venue, but that’s beside the point.

“Cool, cool, follow my lead, little man!” He starts walking then, and it’s as if the red sea has parted for this eccentric looking teenager. Lucien’s both awed and envious, following after him as the other’s grip stays tight on his wrist.

The venue must be smaller than he originally thought, because almost immediately, they’re out of the main crowd and closer to the exits of the concert. Lucien would feel ashamed of his ineptitude of escaping what now appears to be a rather small mosh pit, but he gets distracted.

The teen who helped him is not only still holding his arm, but wearing a crop top that shows off his bare midriff.

Suddenly, Lucien’s mouth is as dry as a desert.

“I’m Pablo, by the way,” the stranger says, pulling Lucien to a merch booth where he finally lets go of him and takes a seat. “I sell shirts and shit--by the way, want one?”

“Uh.” He scans the wall for names he recognizes besides the title band he came to see originally. None of the others had stuck out to him when they played, so he can’t say he’s super enthused. At the sight of a completely unfamiliar name, however, he picks up one of the shirts on the table and holds it up with a quirked brow. “Vacant Veil...?”

“Fuck yeah, dude!” Pablo immediately perks up and jumps right off the seat he just sat in to slide up to Lucien’s side. “I knew you had good taste just from your look. That’s my band, man!”

Lucien’s eyes widen. “What--are you all playing tonight...?”

“Nah,” Pablo waves, “I just push out my shit wherever I can. Gotta get the name out there somehow, you know?”

“I know.”

He didn’t know.

Pablo laughs, and although Lucien swore his eardrums burst in the pit, they’re immediately healed. God he hopes he isn’t blushing. God he hopes he’s dressed right for this. And _fuck_ it all he shouldn’t have shushed his dad when he said he needed more eyeliner!

The vendor continues, completely unaware of his inner turmoil. “I like your style, dude, what’s your name?”

His voice cracks. “Lucien--Lucien Bloodmarch.”

Pablo immediately ‘ooh’s loudly, and he’s never felt so proud of his name. Thanks, dad. “You don’t know how much I fuck with your everything, dude.”

Oh, god.

Pablo keeps going. “It’s gotta be fate.”

Oh, _fucking christ almighty_ , Lucien’s definitely sweating now. He tries to play off his sudden nerves and fights back a delighted smile by running a hand through his hair. Coolly. “Your look’s pretty sweet too, uh, dude.” Nailed it.

The smile on Pablo’s face just continues to grow, and the teen whips out his phone from some hidden compartment on his skintight pants and fuck, now Lucien was looking at his pants and _fuck_ \-- “Give me your number, you gotta come to my next gig, Lucien.”

As he bites the inside of his cheek, Lucien prays for the first time in years.

He’ll never snap at his dad again.

He’ll do his homework.

He’ll even go to the neighbor’s lame youth ministry, just please, _god_ , let him have this.

Lucien doesn’t trust himself to speak without embarrassing himself, so he holds out his hand to put his information in Pablo’s phone. It’s obviously not the reaction Pablo expected by the way his brows go up, but he smirks playfully. It was the _right_ move.

Once he finishes putting his number in, he hands the phone back and waits as Pablo looks his information over. “No offense, but like, I’ll totally forget tomorrow if I don’t have your picture here too.”

Lucien is yanked forward by his arm before he even has a say, and suddenly he’s pulled into Pablo’s chest as the teen holds out his phone and snaps a quick selfie. He’s lucky he has fast enough reflexes to hold up a peace sign. Coolly, again.

When he pulls back, Pablo finishes by texting his phone to give him his number. He glances up at Lucien from over his phone and grins.

“You’ll come, right?”

This is it. He has the opportunity to say something really good and impress this super cool, super hot guy and potentially finally break his lifelong single status. Lucien does a quick mental reboot and swallows hard before trying to smirk back at him.

“Probably.”

It doesn’t sound that cool, but Pablo’s eyes sparkle with interest, and he feels his chest finally relax with relief. It doesn’t last long, seeing as Pablo grabs him in a quick half hug and he feels his ribcage constrict again almost immediately. “I’m counting on it, _Lucien_.”

He isn’t sure how the rest of the night went. Somewhere after leaving Pablo’s booth, Lucien made his way back around the outskirts of the crowd and waiting patiently for the concert to end so he can reconvene with Ernest.

The boy raves on and on about how cool it was and how he’s definitely gonna be bruised tomorrow, which, from context clues, Lucien gathers is a good thing. He drives the two of them home in his dad’s car, drops Ernest off at home, and crawls up to his room after assuring Damien he got home safely.

When he lays in bed, he has a notification on his phone and opens it to find the picture Pablo took of the two of them with a couple of thumbs-up emojis. With an uncharacteristically childish grin, Lucien rolls around his bed excitedly, thinking up a reply.

Next time, he’s definitely buying a Vacant Veil t-shirt.


	2. Concert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> someone requested this be continued and i was already going to but here it is

****Lucien goes to Pablo’s concert.

He and Pablo had been texting on and off throughout the last two weeks, discussing music and their favorite bands, a few of which Pablo had even met himself. Lucien has always been into the indie scene more than anything anyways–if Pablo gets him tickets to see smaller bands instead of more mainstream stuff, it’s for the better.

At some point, Pablo confided in him that this would actually be his third show. He’s sent Lucien a few of his mixes to listen to, and by the time the concert rolls around, he’s super into it. Even if he didn’t know there was an incredibly hot tee salesman behind the music, Lucien actually finds the music growing on him; witch house has always been a guilty pleasure.

Now he’s a diehard.

“You made it!” Pablo greets him outside the venue where he’s already surrounded by a crowd of people. He has fans. Of course he has fans.

Lucien immediately loses 15HP as he shuffles his way into the mix, one hand tucked into his pocket as he tries not to make eye contact with anyone besides Pablo. All these people seem way cooler than him. Thank fucking god he didn’t invite Ernest. “Yeah, man, not gonna pass up a chance to listen to some sick shit live.”

Pablo laughs naturally and fist bumps him, which would’ve been enough to make Lucien happy in itself, but then he’s being pulled into another half hug that he just barely responds in time for. It’s close enough to feel the buzz of Pablo’s phone in his pocket. He pulls it out and frowns at the screen, groaning childishly before he’s smiling at all his friends and, somehow, Lucien.

“You gotta come hang after the show, yeah? I’ll be at my booth.” Pablo’s already walking towards the doors, presumably to set up, and sends a wave over his shoulder. Lucien doesn’t bother responding–he doesn’t want to seem _too_ eager, even if he is losing his mind on the inside.

He follows the rest of the crew inside the club and down into the basement where a good crowd of youths has already gathered. Some DJ is playing a standard dubstep mix that makes Lucien’s face scrunch up, and he hears someone beside him say “right?” 

He turns to find a few of the other punk-looking teens from Pablo’s herd outside smiling at him, and he offers a nod. “There’s no heart to it.”

They seem to agree, because he’s launched into a laidback conversation about music and the horror that is pop music. They’re nice people, which makes sense, seeing as they’re friends with Pablo who, to Lucien, might as well be a god walking. 

The conversation lasts until the DJ announces a new young artist up to the stage, and the people Lucien has been talking to light up immediately. It’s the first clue that Pablo’s up next, and he turns around to watch the stage all too excitedly. Although they stayed at the outskirts of the room originally, Lucien follows the others directly into the crowd, trying to make their way as far in as possible.

Pablo takes the stage with a goofy jump, waving and screaming to everyone in the crowd in such a way that gets Lucien yelling right back at him with everyone else. His heart is beating out of his chest by the time Pablo takes his spot between two laptops and a keyboard, heightened by the rush of an excited crowd and just watching the other teen.

He’s heard his music from the Youtube links Pablo has sent, but nothing compares to not only hearing it in real life, but watching Pablo along with it. He switches between laptops and keys swiftly, dancing along to his own music the entire time. The toothy grin never leaves his face the entire time, and its contagious, enough to make even _Lucien_ smile. Just a little bit. But enough that anyone who knew him would be surprised.

The crowd is absolutely lost in the music as well as Pablo’s energy, and Lucien can’t help but get caught up in it. There’s no mosh pit, thankfully, and he finds himself enjoying his time far more than the metal concert Ernest dragged him to weeks ago. It helps that no one knows him here and he can shamelessly dance along and move with everybody else–he can just be himself and get lost in the crowd.

Pablo’s music is so out there, so entrancing and unique, that there is no ‘following everyone else;’ each person acts differently, some nodding along while others jumped around, some dancing sensually, others banging their heads. It’s a crowd of teenagers unabashedly expressing themselves naturally and without fear of judgement.

Lucien could get drunk off of it.

And all too soon, the show is ending.

As soon as it becomes apparent that another DJ will take the stage after Pablo finishes, most of the people begin to filter out, Lucien included. There’s no other reason to be here, and although he’d had the time of his life, he can’t deny the physical exhaustion taking hold of him.

He’s out of breath, sweating, aching, and he’s never felt more alive.

The booth is full when Lucien makes it to the back, but people disperse as it becomes apparent that Pablo isn’t there. According to a few people talking loudly, he isn’t anywhere at all.

Lucien takes it upon himself to search, although others simply wait around. If he can find Pablo, not only is he curious about his disappearance, but it would give him some alone time with the boy as well.

Unfortunately, he isn’t really allowed in the back rooms to look, although an employee assures Pablo has already gathered his things and left. And yet, when Lucien climbs outside, his van is still there–and empty. He furrows his brows as confusion spilled into worrying about his new friend; had something gone wrong? Nothing too obvious had happened during the performance, but Lucien had also been quite distracted at the time with trying to will Pablo’s crop top to hike up a little higher.

He finds him behind the club, sitting on the doorstep.

Surprisingly, he’s alone, and Pablo doesn’t notice Lucien until the emo teen approaches him. His head shoots up, eyes wide for just a second.

“Oh–Lucien, what’s up?” he asks, lips wiring up in an off kilter smile that makes Lucien’s chest twist–not in the good way, either.

He doesn’t sit beside him just yet, but leans on the brick wall next to the door and watches the rest of the alleyway before them. “Your friends downstairs were worried.”

“Ha, well, I guess it’s to be expected.”

His voice isn’t right at all–it’s quiet. Lucien would chock it up to be a sore throat from the performance if Pablo had actually sung. He shouted a bit, but not enough to warrant such a different tone. Lucien goes out on a limb and moves to sit beside him, grateful when Pablo scoots over to give him space on the curb. It’s not a wide piece, and they’re forced to sit with their legs pressed together. Lucien doesn’t mind.

Yet upon further inspection, he comes to the slow realization that Pablo’s shoulders are shaking.

There’s no real good solution to this situation. Part of him wants to ask if he’s alright, but he doesn’t want to sound too much like his own father; he knows what he hates to hear. But something is obviously wrong, and he doesn’t want to just leave things like this. He leans his cheek in his hand; what did _he_ like to hear when he was upset at people?

Pablo turns to watch as Lucien began to fiddle with something in his pocket, blinking in confusion when he pulled out his phone and a pair of headphones. “Here,” is all Lucien says, offering him a single earbud as he plugs them in and stuffs the other into his own ear. He can’t help but feel relieved when Pablo does, and he scrolls through his iTunes for the perfectly obscure yet tone-fitting song by some indie rock band he can find.

Lucien doesn’t bother saying anything else, and he doesn’t bother Pablo at all. If there’s one thing Lucien enjoyed when he was feeling upset, it’s music, and it’s something he knows Pablo also enjoys. He simply lets the song play out, and when another comes on, he doesn’t turn it off. Pablo doesn’t do anything either and they sit in silence together, simply appreciating the work of other angsty teenagers like themselves.

Lucien is content to simply bask in his crush’s presence alone when, once again, Pablo escalates the situation–this time by reaching for his hand.

He might die.

Pablo is holding his hand.

He might actually die.

Maybe he can use the live show as an excuse for his sudden sweatiness.

“Thanks, Lucien,” Pablo says in a soft voice Lucien has never heard from him before, and all he can do is nod.

He just hopes something romantic starts playing next.


	3. Coffee Shop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the more people that request these two on my tumblr the more there will be
> 
> also idk if i stated this but i like dont know how to read. i dont remember if these two had canon ages besides teen, so just know i'm writing them as older teens and if their ages are different in canon, then FUCK IT this is aged up now

 

Lucien is happy when Pablo invites him out one day. Even happier when he arrives to find him alone. And not at a loud concert venue.

Pablo doesn’t see him for a few moments, giving Lucien the slightest bit of time to appreciate his neutral expression. It quickly grows into a smile when he notices the other.

“Hey, early bird!” He greets cheerfully and waves with one hand. Lucien immediately focuses in on hid clothing–it’s different from the other times he’s seen him. Now in daylight, he was wearing a jacket and looser pants, hair pulled to the side. The crop top is still viewable between the flaps of his jacket, thankfully.

Lucien nods and runs a hand nervously through his hair. He isn’t dressed any differently. “What’s up,” he manages to say without stuttering, gathering the other in a side bro-hug on instinct. “This is uh, different than usual.” Usual being the two times they’ve hung out.

With a bright “yep,” Pablo turns to regard the coffee shop they’re standing in front of. “I heard good things and wanted to compare it to the Coffee Spoon, yeah?”

He has no reason to say no, so Lucien agrees and follows him inside.

To him, all coffee shops are basically the same. Everything is in palettes of orange and red because they are afraid of being close to Starbucks green, random plants in corners, fake antique furniture, and everyone inside is pretentious. Everyone. Being inside only makes him slightly uncomfortable as he feels out of place, but evidently Pablo doesn’t share any of his thoughts as he marches right up to the counter.

“What do I want, Lucien?” he asks when the emo teen comes up to stand behind him. Pablo’s like a superhero, completely unaffected by the stares of other people as they just intrude on their territory. Or that’s what it feels like. Lucien keeps his hands buried deep in his pockets and shrugs.

“Dunno, I’m not a big coffee guy--get two and I’ll take whichever you don’t want.”

He means it as a way to avoid having to make an order for himself, but Pablo turns to grin at him and he realizes he may have been flirting. Yes. Right. That was super on purpose and Lucien isn’t sweating bullets.

He rattles off two drinks that don’t even make sense to the barista then gestures to a table in the back with a nod. It’s a bit more secluded from the other patrons, and Lucien couldn’t be more grateful to sit down across from Pablo and just focus on the man in front of him.

Except it meant Pablo also has to focus on him.

And he’s an embarrassing fuck up.

Shit.

Pablo crosses his arms on the table top and leans forward, smiling. “Not your scene, punk boy?”

“No, not really,” Lucien admits, and the laugh it earns from Pablo is enough to force a small smile on his face as well. “You work at the Coffee Spoon though, yeah?”

“Sure do, really chill place--” Pablo stops, holding up a finger to wait as he stands up and collects their drinks before returning to the table. He takes a sip of one drink, scrunches his face up in disgust, then the other. He shakes his head at both and pushes the second across the table.

“You don’t like either?”

“I hate coffee.”

They stare at each other for a few long moments before they both start laughing at the same time. Lucien has to cover his mouth when he accidentally snorts, face going red as Pablo just laughed harder. He may humiliate himself but it’s slightly worth it to see the other smiling so widely back at him.

Lucien lifts up the cup and Pablo quiets to watch him with eager eyes as he takes a sip, immediately cringing. Pablo hides a snicker behind his hand when the other levels him with a stare over the rim of his cup--and Lucien promptly chugs the entire thing.

He slams the cup back on its saucer with a loud clang, not even caring for the loud noise as he audibly gagged. Pablo can’t help but offer him loud applause, much to the displeasure of every other patron, before he downs his own drink as if it was booze. He mimics the same motion, groaning childishly after drinking (Lucien doesn’t giggle) and all but dropping the cup back down on the table.

Pablo stands, chair dragging on the floor loudly behind him, and offers Lucien a hand. “Alright, let’s go!”

It’s hard to play down his smile when all Lucien wants to do is grin and scream and jump for joy at the feeling of Pablo’s hand in his. The smile directed at him is just the icing on the cake, and they leave the store as Pablo shouts a loud farewell to the snooty hipsters glaring at them.

“But like, let’s go somewhere cool, now,” Pablo says once they’ve been walking down the sidewalk a good few minutes towards nowhere, and Lucien quietly agrees.

He doesn’t know if this is a date or just two dudes hanging out, but he knows he’s happy beyond words.


End file.
